Earth anchor



April 17, 1934. J, BLA K RN 1,955,449

EARTH ANCHOR Filed May 28, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 2/ MWI/V 70/? Q 0was/aw 5076/1601? firrx April 17, 1934. J. BLACKBURN 1,955,449

EARTH ANCHOR Filed May 28, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 6

50 4? 4 44 /X H A [/7 l/e/vfa JASPER. BLAC KBUICN Affo/wey Fatented Apr.17, 1934 1,955,449

FFEQE EARTH ANCHOR .lasper Blackburn, Webster Groves, Me.

Application May 28, 1330, Serial No. 456,383

4 Claims. (Cl. 189-32) invention relates to improvements in earth and22-22 respectively, and flanges l515 are anchors, and for its primaryobject an earth provided along the top edges of the parallel anchorprovided with a plurality of nukes which faces 22 22. Adjacent theseflanges and therecan be expanded simultaneously in radial dibelow thesides are recessed or undercut at 1616 5 rections so that the flukeswill iinbed themselves on the faces 22-22, and similar recesses 19-19 insolid ground thereby preventing the pulling are provided parallel to andbelow the recesses up of the anchor. Ill-16. The recesses 1616 open ontothe ad- A further object is to construct an earth jacent face 17, andthe other recesses open onto. anchor which is provided with a pluralityof ra the parallel face l8.

l dially eXpa-nsible nukes, the flukes being sep- The faces 17-18 areprovided. with similar cutarately mounted on a base. I cuts or recesses20 and 21, the former opening A still further object is to construct anearth onto the face 22 and the latter opening onto the anchor having aplurality of radially movable face 22 opposed to the first face 22, therecesses flukes, the flukes being so constructed that they 29 and 21being parallel to one another, but vercan be readily placed upon a baseand retains tically spaced apart. It will be noted that the in positionthereon without the necessity of exrecesses 16, 19, and 21, do notextend the full traneous fastening means. length of the faces but onlyfor a portion thereof,

A still further object is to construct an arth and each has an end wallthat forms a closed end anchor having a plurality of radially movablefor the recess and forms an abutment stop to 20 nukes, the fiulzes beingso constructed as to limit co-operate with the fiulres, as will behereinafter their outward movement. described.

In the drawings, l is a top plan view of the The base 11 is alsoprovided with upwardly uppermost fluke employed. extending projections232 land 26, these Fig. 2 is a top plan view or" the second fluke.projections serving as supports for certain of the 3 is top plan view ofthe third fluke. nukes as will be hereinafter described. Resting 4 is atop plan view of still another fluke. on base 11 is a fluke 27 whichfluke is pro Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the vided with a cutawayportion 28 which forms a Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the same. slot soas to permit the fluke to be placed over Fig. 7 is an enlargedperspective view showing the narrower portion of the central boss 12,the

the central boss. edges of the cutaway portion 28 resting against Fig. 8is a cross-sectional view, taken substanthe faces 17 and 18 of thecentral boss. The tially along the line 8-8 of Fig. 1. ends of the fluke27 are provided with inturned Fig. 9 is a front view of one of the linkseinprojections 29 extending toward one another ployed in expanding thenuk s. which projections are adapted to enter the re- Fig. 1c is a sideelevation of the same. cesses or cutaway portions 21 of the central pro-Fig. 11 isacross-sectional view, taken substanjection and abut theclosed end thereof and tially along the lines llll of Fig. 1. thus limitthe outward movement of the fluke F 12 is a perspective view of thefluke shown 27. The fluke 27 is also prowided with a socket in Fig. 1.30 which is designed to receive the end 31 of an In the construction ofdevice, I employ operating link, the opposite ends 33 of these base 11which is provided with a central boss 12. links being ecured in a commonspider provided Thi boss is p vi h p i 13 x with arms corresponding tothe number of nukes tending Vertically Centrally 51191? through. Thisemployed in connection with the anchor, the p ni is f r h r p i n f h rr links being of identical construction, but of dif The ancho od may beS c in t p ni g ferent lengths and will bear the same reference 13 inany well known manner either by being n ber throughout thespecification,

screw threaded therein, riveted therein or welded. R ti on top of thfluke 27 i a fluke 35, Referring more particularly to Fig. '7 of theThis fluke is provided with a cutaway portion 36 drawings, it will benoted that the central boss identical in construction with cutawayportion 12 is preferably substantially rectangular in plan 28 and withsimilar inturned ends 37. These inview, so as to prevent rotation of theflakes relaturned ends are adapted to pass into the cutaway tivethereto, as will be more clearly hereinafter portions 20 of the centralboss so that the outexplained, said boss being longer in one direcwardmovement of the fluke 35 will be limited.

tion than in the other. The pairs of parallel The fiulre 35 is alsoprovided with a socket 38 vertical faces of the boss are indicated at17-i8 which serves the same purpose as the socket 30.

The fluke 35 in addition to resting on the fluke 27 is also supported bythe projections 25 and 26 which keeps it from tilting.

Resting on the fluke 35 is a fluke 39 which is provided with its cutawayportion 40. One side of this cutaway portion 40 is recessed as indicatedby the numeral 41 and directly opposite this recess is an inclined orbeveled portion 42 thinnest at its free edge. This permits the fluke tobe shifted and tilted sufficiently to be inserted in position and passedunderneath the flanges 15. The fluke 39 is also provided with theinturned ends 43 adapted to ride in and abut the ends of the recesses19, thus limiting the outward movement of the fluke 39. The fluke 39also rests on the projections 24 so as to prevent it from tilting whenexpanded.

Resting on the fluke 39 is a fluke 44 which fluke is provided with itscutaway portion 45. This cutaway portion is provided along one edge witha recess 46 and on the opposite edge with the inclined portion 4'7serving the same purpose as the recessed and inclined portions 41 and 42of the fluke 39. The fluke 44 is also provided with the inturned ends 48which are adapted to enter or ride into the recesses 16 and thus limitthe outward movement of the fluke adjacent the inturned ends 48 and 44.In addition, I have provided upwardly projecting portions 49 on thisfluke which ride underneath the flanges 15 to abut against the latterwhen the fluke is tilted slightly thus preventing the inner ends of thefluke from tipping upward when the fluke is in expanded position. Thefluke 44 is further supported by the projection 23 formed on the base11. The fluke 44 is also provided with a socket 50 for the reception ofa link, the opposite end of the link being attached or supported in thespider.

The base 11 is provided with an opening 51 which opening is in alinementwith the openings 525354 and 55 formed respectively in the fiukes4439-35 and 27. The purpose of these openings is to permit the insertionof a wire or other securing means to prevent the accidental expansion ofthe flukes either during shipping or while being inserted into the earthpreparatory to expanding. This securing means, however, is of such anature that after the anchor has been inserted in the ground it can bereadily ruptured and permit the expansion of the fluxes, but still atthe same time has suflicient tenacity to hold the flukes in collapsedposition under ordinary circumstances.

The manner of installing my anchor is as follows:-

The first step is to bore a hole in the ground of approximately the samediameter as the diameter of the base, it being understood of course,that this hole is slightly larger than the anchor and is bored at anydesired angle. The anchor is then inserted and by means of a tamping barthe spider is struck a succession of blows forcing the spider downwardon the rod 14 toward the base. This movement of the spider causes thelinks to force the various flukes outward and into the solid earthsurrounding the hole previously bored. The tamping bar is then removedand the hole filled up with any suitable material.

It is understood, of course, that the flukes may be held in collapsedposition by means of a lead rivet, by means or" a thin wire or by meansof a cord. When the flukes are so secured, the downward movement of thespider and the consequent expansion of the fiukes will ruptiu'e thisholding means and permit the flukes to expand. If a bolt or extremelyheavy wire is used to hold the fiukes in collapsed position, this isfirst removed before the anchor is lowered into the hole.

It is also to be understood, of course, that the upper end of the anchorrod is provided with an eye so that one end of a guy wire or cable canbe secured thereto.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An earth anchor comprising a base, a central boss thereon having aplurality of pairs of grooves in its sides, a plurality of flukesmounted for movement on said base, means for moving said flukes outwardradially of said base, and means carried by each of said flukes andadapted to enter one of said pairs of grooves thereby engaging with saidcentral boss and for individually limiting the outward movement of eachof said flukes independently of the other flukes.

2. An earth anchor comprising a base, a polygonal central boss thereon,each face of said polygon having a pair of grooves in different planestherein, a rod carried by said boss and projecting therefrom, a spiderslidably mounted on said rod, a plurality of flukes slidably mounted onsaid base and each slotted to non-rotatably receive said boss, a bosscarried by each of said flukes, links pivotally carried at their ends bysaid last mentioned bosses and said spider whereby said fiukes are movedoutwardly when said spider is moved toward said base, means carried byeach of said flukes and adapted for engagef ment with one of said pairsof grooves of said central boss for limiting the outward movement ofsaid flukes, and laterally extending flanges formed on said central bossat its upper end for retaining said flukes on said base.

3. An earth anchor comprising a base having a central boss extendingthereabove, said boss having grooves in its sides, a plurality ofradially movable fiukes on said base and having slots extendingtherethrough to receive said boss and be non-rotatable thereon, andinturned projections carried by each of said fiukes at one end only ofsaid slots to enter said grooves and abut the end walls of the latter tolimit further outward movement of the flukes.

4. An earth anchor comprising a base, a central boss thereon and havinga plurality of vertically spaced grooves in its side walls, a pluralityof fiukes superimposed above one another and slidably mounted on saidbase, each in one of the planes of said vertically spaced grooves, eachof said flukes having a slot therein to slidably receive said boss andhaving inturned projections at one end of said slots, whereby saidprojections will engage in said grooves and abut the ends of the latterto limit further outward movement of said flukes.

JASPER BLACKBURN.

